Officials knew west Altadena at risk hours earlier

A new report raises fresh questions about why evacuations were ordered so late Jan. 8.

- BY GRACE TOOHEY, TERRY CASTLEMAN AND HANNAH FRY

GINA FERAZZI Los Angeles Times A FIREFIGHTER douses flames from the Eaton fire on Jan. 8 in Altadena. Nineteen people died in the blaze.

The Eaton fire was marching toward west Altadena even earlier than previously believed, a state-commissioned report confirmed this week, raising further questions about why it took L.A. County officials so long to order evacuations in the neighborhood where 18 people died.

The fire erupted Jan. 7 at 6:18 p.m., fueled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds that pushed flames into neighborhoods with great speed. Within about an hour, the county issued evacuation orders for many of the foothill communities near the fire's origin, including the eastern side of Altadena. But as The Times first reported in January, evacuation orders were not issued for west Altadena until after 3 a.m., well after the fire had threatened the area. Evacuation warnings for the area never went out.

All but one of the Eaton fire's 19 deaths occurred in west Altadena.

The Fire Safety Research Institute report, released Thursday morning, doesn't analyze why alerts were delayed, but provides the most detailed timeline yet of the night of the fire, including new timestamps that show there were signs the fire was moving toward west Altadena almost six hours before the area received any evacuation alert.

The report notes that there was “fire spread to the west” as early as 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, pointing to several spot fires west of the origin.

By 10:22 p.m., and through the next hour, there were multiple radio calls reporting the fire was spreading west toward North Lake Avenue, the report said. Just before 11 p.m., as The Times has previously reported, there were signs of flames in west Altadena — more than four hours before officials issued evacuation orders for that area.